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A game of Dota 2 is always on a knife's edge. One small decision can change the outcome of the game dramatically.
Over the years, Dota 2 has seen some incredible comebacks, especially at the grandest stage of them all, The International.
The International is the single most important tournament in Dota 2. Teams and players spend the whole year preparing for that one tournament. As a result, The International is Dota 2 at the highest level.
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Five most unbelievable rallies in The International Dota 2 history
5) Digital Chaos vs Evil Geniuses at The International 6
At The International 6, defending Champions Evil Geniuses faced Digital Chaos in the Lower Bracket Finals. DC was a team that formed just a few weeks before TI6 and was considered massive underdogs.
In their series against EG, they won the first game and lost the second. The deciding match saw one of the most exciting encounters in Dota 2 history. EG took an early lead, as Clinton "Fear" Loomis' Terrorblade was too strong for DC to fight. As a result, the latter adopted a split-pushing tactic.
Despite being down by a lot of gold and experience, DC continued to split-push while avoiding direct team fights. Thanks to some heroic plays from Roman "Resolut1on" Fomynok, Aliwi "w33" Omar, and David "Moo" Hull, DC managed to get mega creeps while their Ancient was exposed.
After getting a pick-off on Syed "Sumail" Hassan, DC managed to mount a final push and destroyed EG's Ancient to win the game spectacularly.
4) OG vs PSG.LGD at The International 8 (Upper Bracket Final)
OG was the weakest team on paper at The International 8. However, they went on a Cinderella run and managed to win the tournament. In both the Upper Bracket Final and Grand Finals, OG faced PSG.LGD in what are considered two of the most incredible series in Dota 2 history.
In the former, the two traded games to tie the series 1-1. The third game saw one of the most nail-biting finishes to a Dota 2 game ever. LGD took a considerable lead midway through the game and tried to rush OG's Ancient. OG had to cycle through their buybacks to defend their base.
In a prolonged fight with their ancient exposed Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen and Jesse "Jerax" Vainikka managed to defend their base and get a die-back on Wang "Ame" Chunyu's Terrorblade. With most of their team respawning, OG managed to capitalize on Ame's die-back and rushed LGD's ancient to win the game.
Jerax's echo slam on Ame and Toby "Tobiwan" Dawson's accompanying call will go down as one of the most iconic moments in Dota 2 history.
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3) Team DK vs LGD at The International 4
Team DK faced LGD in the International 4 Lower Bracket. The match was hyped up by a lot as they were two of the strongest Chinese teams. However, DK was firm favorites to win the game and the tournament.
In the first match of their series, DK had a 24k gold lead over LGD. They had taken down two lanes of barracks, and Daryl "iceiceice" Xiang's Nature's Prophet was constantly pressuring the third lane. It should have been an easy win for DK, but LGD managed to pull off one of the biggest comebacks in Dota 2.
Rallying behind Xu "Lin" Ziyang's Lycan and Xie "DD" Bin's Alchemist, LGD managed to win fight after fight without losing anything. They managed to rush DK's throne and win the game against all odds.
Although DK won the series 2-1, LGD's comeback in the first game is considered one of the best ever in Dota 2.
2) OG vs PSG.LGD at The International 8 (Grand Finals)
As mentioned earlier, OG faced PSG.LGD in a rematch at the Grand Final of TI8. Somehow, the former managed to pull off two more insane comebacks here. OG won the first game of the best-of-5 and lost the next two games. With their backs against the wall, the team claimed the last two games to win the series 3-2.
The fourth game of the series has gone down as one of the most iconic in Dota 2 history. LGD took a 9k gold lead over OG and was dominating the map. In a series of team fights, both teams exhausted all of their buybacks except Ame.
Taking advantage of this, LGD killed Topson and looked to kill off Anathan "Ana" Pham's Phantom Lancer to secure the game. However, Sebastien "Ceb" Debs landed a crucial Axe call to turn the fight around. Ana cleaned up LGD's heroes, forcing Ame to buyback.
With renewed confidence, OG managed to push into LGD's base and destroy their throne to win the game. They will pull off another 7k gold deficit comeback in game 5 to win their first-ever Dota 2 International.
1) EG vs Ehome at The International 6
When a team destroys all three lanes of their enemy's barracks, they get mega creeps. Mega creeps are insanely strong and give much less gold on death. As a result, winning against mega creeps is considered to be impossibly difficult.
The first pro team to ever come back against mega creeps were Evil Geniuses. At The International 6, EG faced Ehome in an Upper Bracket match. In the first game of the series, EG came back against mega creeps in what is considered by many to be the best game of Dota 2 ever played.
Ehome was nearly 20k gold ahead at one point and got mega creeps at 71 minutes. However, EG did not give up. Sumail, Peter "ppd" Dager and Ludwig "zai" Wahlberg built triple dagons and managed to hold on to their base and kill off Ehome's heroes.
Playing around Saahil "Universe" Arora's Faceless Void, EG managed to push into Ehome's base and take down their ancient despite the mega creeps. There have been a few mega creep comebacks in pro Dota 2 since, but none have been as dramatic or legendary as EG's mega creep comeback against Ehome.
Note: This article reflects the author's views.
